Do powerline wifi adaptors actually work? 7 April at 8:22PM in Techie Stuff 18 replies 354 views

ferry

We have an issue with poor wifi but have been recommended TP Link Powerline AV600 may help us out as a cheap fix.
Can we get some feeback from anyone who uses these 
Thank you

RumRat

From my experience of those, yes they do.

ferry

Thanks I had been told these should work better thank the plug in extender type?

ballyblack

yes they do work.


Plug extenders do not work properly in my experience as they only retransmit about 50% of the signal

elsien

I have these. I’ve had to plug into an extension socket which isn’t meant to work as well, but it doesn’t seem to have affected them a huge amount. 

flashg67

+1 - I use them successfully with my smart tv as it's the otherside of the hosue from the router

matelodave

I've got a couple, one feeds the DVD and Satellite receiver  and provides a guest wifi  for when the grandkids come and want to use the internet (its got two wired ethernet ports and wifi ) - its plugged into a 4 way extension lead behind the telly.
 this is it https://www.amazon.co.uk/TL-WPA4220KIT-Powerline-Broadband-Configuration-UK/dp/B01LXOZ4EN/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=53509367259&dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsLWDBhCmARIsAPSL3_04iXgEYThPvFqMEEO7iUI8dxVCurVOcj_Dl_dVXQIjblbEe5ZtVN0aAmYKEALw_wcB&hvadid=259134785219&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9050369&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=4834188496992255040&hvtargid=kwd-296273398529&hydadcr=25429_1819498&keywords=tp-link+powerline+wifi&qid=1617831780&sr=8-1.

I've just done a speed test and the guest wif delivers 44mbit/s down and 20mbit/s up.

The second unit (a Solwise with three ports) feeds internet to the shed which is about 20ft from the house and is connected via a spur from the main fuse board and another fuseboard in the shed. It provides wired internet access for a couple of energy monitor receivers and a CCTV camera.

I did try a third unit (a Cisco) last week plugged  into the caravan, which was connected to the shed supply via the 25metre caravan hook-up cable but it didn't work (not that I expected it to but it was worth a try) It works OK in the shed and indoors but hanging off the end of 25m of caravan extension cable and fighting through the caravan power circuits was pushing my luck a bit.

MoneyMate

 just don’t use through surge filters fitted to some circuits ( extensions leads etc )

Ibrahim5

I did actually have a problem with that model. It seemed OK but would just randomly stop working every day or two. You just had to turn it off and on again. I read reviews and it was a common and incurable problem. I sent them back to Amazon smartish. Some people might be able to cope with that but I couldn't. I went on to a very cheap Tenda mesh system which has been great. (MW3 £69.99) Only issue is you have to avoid double NAT. Either mesh or router is boss. Can't have 2 bosses!

ballyblack

in old houses if the wiring is iffy I would choose a mesh system as above

tallmansix

I've had varied experiences with powerline adaptors over the last 10+ years and not that impressed, gave up and now use ethernet cables which are cheaper and faster.

1. Both devices on the same circuit / ring main will provide better connectivity, as soon as you start crossing to another circuit, performance can diminish or not work at all.

2. Prone to interference from other appliances - this may be intermittent so they may appear ok when setting up and give good results on speed testing but might give poor performance with network critical communications such as audio / video calling where dropped packets can cause lag and distortion.

3. Rarely achieve the advertised speeds in my experience and sometimes slower than Wi-Fi - I used one to connect an outbuilding at the end of the garden but got faster results with a carefully positioned Wi-Fi repeater connected to ethernet.

4. The Wi-fi repeater will probably end up in a less than ideal position, most plug sockets are low down and often behind furniture which will restrict the repeated Wi-Fi signal somewhat.

Is your current Wi-fi router in an ideal position - ie out in the open, high up, away from solid objects and appliances and centrally located? I've seen so many people complain about Wifi and then see the router tucked behind / underneath the TV for example which is a poor location.